Born in 2022, Al Qubaisi started her racing career in karting. In 2017, she finished 3rd in the IAME X30 Championships before moving to Italian F4 in 2019. A year later, she won three races in UAE F4 before making a return to Italian F4. Another Formula 4 UAE campaign brought three wins and six podiums, amounting to a P4 finish in the standings.
A former Emirati rally driver and racing champion himself, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem congratulated Al Qubaisi on her win, highlighting the importance of the F1 Academy in training and developing the skills of young racers and grooming them to become the champions of the future, especially women like Al Qubaisi, who have been demonstrating great dedication, commitment and skills in the racing world.
The F1 Academy is a female-only, single-seater racing championship founded by Formula One in 2022 with its inaugural season in 2023. The racing series aims to focus on developing and preparing young drivers to progress to higher levels of competition.
It is noteworthy that Hamda Al Qubaisi was the first Emirati to be invited to the FIA-sponsored CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy in 2016. She also became the first woman in the history of Italian F4 to score a podium, achieving third place in the first race of the season at the Italian Formula 4 Championship in June 2021.
